HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Long Beach Poly, Downey happy to get shot at titles

LONG BEACH - The journey to the CIF Southern Section Football Press Conference Luncheon on Monday morning was more than a short trip to The Grand for championship contenders Poly High and Downey High.

For the Jackrabbits (10-3), their journey to the Pac-5 Division title game against Mater Dei was nothing short of a "roller-coaster" ride.

For the Vikings (10-3), their journey to the Southeast Division championship game against La Serna took more than 50 years.

But both programs were more than happy to make it.

"It's always nice to be here," said Poly coach Raul Lara, who is no stranger to championship week, where he and his team haven't been guests since the 2008 season. "It's always nice to finish the season up here."

Poly opened the season with a 1-3 record, including a historic 56-0 loss to Narbonne in Week 2. But the Jackrabbits regrouped, won a watered-down Moore League and went into the playoffs with more questions than answers.

In the postseason, Poly looked like the Poly of yesteryear, the one that perennially battled for CIF championships. The first victim was Bishop Amat, then undefeated Mission Viejo, and last week unbeaten (on the field) St. John Bosco.

That has led the unranked Jackrabbits to Saturday's Pac-5 Division title showdown against No. 4-seeded Mater Dei at Angel Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

"Down deep I knew we were improving," Lara said. "I knew we were better, but didn't know how much better. ... We played some pretty tough teams (during their early-season struggles). Three of them were in the semifinals and two of them (Narbonne in the L.A. City Section and Serra in the CIF-SS Western Division) finals."

Lara and his counterpart, Bruce Rollinson of Mater Dei (11-2), had a little bit of fun during the team introductions. After all, this will be the fourth time the two have met in the title game. Poly won in 1997, Mater Dei won in 1998 and the teams tied in 1999.

After the Monarchs were introduced, Rollinson ended his talk with, "Let's go, Poly!"

Lara was happy to oblige.

"This is a great matchup. I'm looking forward to it," Lara said. "The Pac-5 was supposed to be new, different this year ... but it's the same old Poly versus Mater Dei."

Maybe nobody was happier to be in attendance on Monday than the contingent from Downey. The Vikings have never made an appearance in the 37 years that the football luncheon has been held.

That's because Downey hasn't made a CIF final since the 1957 season.

But on Saturday against second-seeded La Serna (12-1), the third-seeded Vikings will finally - 55 years later - find themselves on the field in a championship game at a site to be announced today.

"It's good for the community," said Downey coach Jack Williams, a graduate of the school who finished his prep football career on a 1-9 team in 1994. "It was great to have the support we had Friday night. We had like 150 to 200 alumni there."

Williams, like any coach, envisioned getting to the final game when he was hired. He said it happened a little sooner than he expected.

"My thing was it would take five years," he said. "And this is just my third."

The Vikings, who finished in a three-way tie for the San Gabriel Valley League title, cruised past Burbank for their first playoff win since 1999, won a hard-fought game against Norwalk in the second round, and routed Santa Fe last week.

Now it's time for Downey to focus on its rematch against La Serna at , which won the Week 1 game 28-27 in overtime. The Vikings opted to go for a two-point conversion and fell a half-yard short.

"Watching the film of that game this weekend, I noticed that we are a completely different team," Williams said.